Fear Of A Black Planet

This week I talk about: The dispiriting nature of the lockdownThe disputed science around the Covid-19 threatLord Sumption’s piece in the Mail On SundayWhy Liberty is not an optional extraFreedom, fulfilment and citizenshipWill the lockdown change our views on the social contract? Music and art during the lockdownShutting down a string quartetScepticism versus ‘truther’ conspiracies

This week I talk about: Liberty, citizenship and flourishingOwning my basic white guy-nessHumanism and civil libertiesNihilism and wokenessHuman nature and grand statementsMy problems with the red pill movementGood Trump/Bad Trump reflectionsPropaganda everywhere

This week I talk about:Why I have had a break in podcastsWatching the UK become a ‘command society’Democratic audit and hysteriaHow Fear Works by Frank Furedi (book)Hysteria and public consentPeter Hitchens contra mundumAldous Huxley on propaganda and hysteriaVigilance in moments of social weaknessThe hatred of dissentFake dissent and the mainstream mediaA wee song to end off on

This week I talk about:Avoiding reactive Culture War clashesPresenting your own world view robustlyPicking your battlesFeminism and Handmaid’s Tale hysteriaTrue gender oppression in Islamic dictatorshipsBill Burr’s new specialPolitical correctness and the woke blackoutPassive aggressive woke tactics

This week I talk about:My recent gig Good songwriters vs showoff musosSome interesting songsCultivating individualityMill, Wilde and eccentricityTulsi Gabbard (hot) and free speechIdentity politics and alarmist mediaThe real enemy is not Trump or Boris

This week I talk about:Dave Chappelle’s new specialSpeaking truth to powerHow the woke types became a new aristocracy The loss of religionDivided times and wokenessDouglas Murray on mob outrageThe moral vacuum and ideology

This week I talk about:Bank holiday bohemianismCreative routinesIntroverts and extrovertsPersonhood and relationshipsThe modern tendency to undermineElvis and perfect imperfection

This week I talk about:My weekend in BradfordProvincial architectureA run-in with a train attendantFinding some old books from uniThe Delian League of ancient GreeceThe Athenian ‘Empire” and the EUPlans for more musicForthcoming book review

This week I talk about:Different creative processesThe chaos of the artistic lifeAnxiety and fearJordan Peterson on fear and sufferingThe role of art and belief systemsChaos, order and being in the zone

This week I talk about: More Beatles geeking outJordan Peterson’s impact on meIdeological thinking vs authentic thinkingReactive culture and nuanceAmerican shootings and ideological reaction

This week In talk about:Some good things about BorisWhat Boris should be talking aboutThe difference between whining and true dissentHuman reason and flourishingThe meaning of true liberalismFame, success and the nervous systemGeorge Harrison and spirituality

This week I talk about:Conversations with political disagreementsTrump’s rally and the chantsNuance and outrageThe Beatles rabbit holeStrawberry Fields ForeverBeing in a shit bandCliche and originality

This week I talk about:Nick Broomfield’s new film on Leonard CohenThe bohemian life and it’s paradoxes Creativity and the museBeauty and catalysts of art Narcissism and artTrump and the establishment

This week I talk about:The definition of poetryThe Faber&Faber policeSimon Armitage on Dylan’s Nobel PrizeThe role of poetry Poetry and human natureSnobbery vs populism The ballad traditionCliches and tropes in song

This week I talk about:The supposed split in poetryElitism vs democratisationStylistic preferences vs genuine critical standardsMarketing and creativityThe importance of heroesMisunderstanding artistsLiam and Noel Gallagher’s festival sets

This week I talk about: More Leonard CohenCreative successGetting over bitternessBeauty and what it means to be humanHong Kong and democracyHypocrisy of the western left

This week I talk about:Gratitude to nasty commentsIf you have to ask you’ll never knowTravelling in GreeceHydra - romantic weddingLeonard Cohen in HydraDeath of bohemiaLeonard Cohen on the ‘tyranny of right thinking’

This week I talk about:Liberalism vs identity politicsQuillette’s hatchet on Dave RubinThe basis for human rightsCivilisation and human reasonPlato, Socrates, AristotleLiam Gallagher’s new singleRock n roll humanism

This week I talk about:Trump’s state visitConstantly having to justify your right to an opinionTrump and racism and speculative claimsWhat Trump has done for minoritiesGetting tense during performancesSharing your creativity in these timesFighting back against nihilism and cynicism

This week I talk about: The EU election resultsDisillusionment in public lifeThe empty, risk aversion in political dialogueIndividuality and communityThe liberal traditionAgency and moralityThe spin doctoring elitesScandal, platitudes and blandness

This week I talk about:The title of this podcastThe old school hip hop attitudeA cultural battering ramSafe and risk-free art todayEurovision and narcissism The enemies of the true liberalRobust humanismDon’t try it on with meI am the counterculture

This week I talk about: Fake freedom rhetoric Liberty and the individualWhat it means to be humanShady pc tacticsFree speech and online harmBohemia and creative environments Raif Badawi and western values

This week I talk about:The real meaning of liberalismHow liberalism has been distortedUniversal rights vs identity politicsPluralism vs multiculturalism Defining the human beingAgency, choice and valueEdinburgh and the New Town

This week I talk about:Why Dave Rubin mattersBeing politically exiledGood consensus vs dangerous consensusNuance in political discussionFreedom vs JusticeIdentity politics vs free thinkingSpiritual individuality vs conservative individualism

This week I talk about:Protest vs shrill moaningCounterculture and dissentPaglia’s theory of cultureSexual personae and natureMisrepresenting dissenting viewI Am The Counterculture

This week I talk about:Humanism vs paternalismMorality as a ‘trojan horse’Jordan Peterson on trans pronounsIndividuality and libertyDissent and first principlesIdeology vs free thinkingMany reason for criticism PC culture

This week I talk about:Political correctness and sexualityWorkplace sexual banterBonding through dirty jokes and innuendoFemale agency and saying noThe line between roughness and violenceThird wave and second wave feminismHealthy sexual relations between genders

This week I talk about:Progressive paternalismLeonardo da Vinci’s geniusWhat it means to be a Renaissance ManHow Renaissance Humanism is the antidote to ideologyFree Speech and hypocrisyThe right wing double standardYou shoulda killed me last year

This week I talk about:The oppressor/oppressed paradigmGeorge Orwell and freedomChurchill and independent thinkingHuman potential and the soulGeorge Monbiot and the leftPleasure and enslavement

This week I talk about:The collapse of valuesLiberal dissent vs destructive culture warsRomanticism and the role of the artistDionysus and ApolloPete Seeger’s conservative socialismCareerism vs ambitionFake bohemianism

This week I talk about:How Trump, Brexit and the culture wars are a distraction The real battle of our time is psychologicalSneering hipsters and piddling technocratsRomanticism and western cultureThe war on the human psycheThe realm of being, ands scientific methodEnthusiasm and the unknownMy latest book review about Socrates

This week I talk about:Bob Dylan and the death of rock n rollHow the counterculture becomes the establishmentFetishisation and consumerismProtecting the soulRomanticism and the sensesWhat happened to KerouacBeing tough without becoming bitter

This week I talk about:Olivia Colman’s Oscar’s speechHow Hollywood crushes individualsBill Hicks and politicsHow my lefty views have evolvedConsensus and orthodoxyHick’s views on corporate music and yuppies‘Reassessing’ people’s reputationsStupid Guardian establishment morons

Great episode of Marie Forleo and Steven Pressfield, definitely recommend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZToRdS2HRc&t=540sMy ideas of self-validation:You can totally validate yourselfOnly approximate, through rituals, affirmations, making sure you cultivate your imagination and your strengths 2. The buck stops with youNot being ignorant, always be open; but you have the final sayIt’s you who takes the responsibility for your failures, so it’s you who decides if something is good or not. Only listen to people who see importance of what you are trying to do. If they don’t, don’t share and don’t listen. This is going to be a small number! 3. Success is doing the art for its own sake, it’s own rewardMinimise what is not rewarding. Only do what is absolutely necessary, but everything else should be that which is its own reward. You can’t reach perfection. The test is whether it gives you a job well done. The days where you gave it your best shot, and you feel the satisfaction in that

This week I talk about: A realisation about my creative process The imagination and silliness Free speech and privilege How bad ideas can only be combated through free speech How all good ideas can be abused

This week I talk about:Turning 38Why I left news reportingMoving to LondonFollowing your creative instinctsHow nothing’s black and whiteListening to the inner call

This week I talk about:My recent essay on KierkegaardThe importance of individualitySubjectivity and materialismHegel and the StateThe irreducibility of being a personAbraham and IsaacFaith and paradox and political correctness

This week I talk about:The culture war over MLK’s legacyA great article by Coleman HughesChristianity and MLKThe universality of the civil rights messageHow identity politics contravenes civil rightsRobert Burns’s political message

This week I talk about:My rediscovery of The DoorsHow Jim Morrison is a bigger influence on me than DylanThe artist as criticThe Doors Live in DetroitUncompromising voicesHow PC culture is the enemy of art

This week I talk about how the culture has become more creative, but the idea of art is barely valuable. The enemies of the artist are:BombardmentNeoliberal values/marketingCynicism - compliance through habitual disdain

This week I talk aboutThe caricature of the old establishmentMeritocracy and classEducation and knowledgeKenan Malik’s column in the ObserverNiall Ferguson on the current challengePropaganda and how to tell the REAL elites from the fake caricatures

This week I talk about:Spirituality and egoThe meaning of ChristmasNarcissism and its overuseAmbition and masculinityLife-deniers and nihilists Charles Dickens and Christmas

This week I talk about:Worshiping worldly powerThe true meaning of Christ’s comingBecoming a fully realised personPolitical correctness as a form of worldly powerDefining oneselfBoarding school and self-objectificationSpiritual vs material power

This week I talk about: What people don’t get about being an artist Jim Morrison’s revolution of rock music Narcissism and creativity Why people traduce your ideas The irreducible nature of being a person Hidden vocations and the world of Reasons Strategies for protecting our creativity

This week I ramble about:Redefining successHero-worshipBeing precious about your timeEmbracing the irreducible mystery of ourselves

This week I ramble about:A snotty girl in ShoreditchMy gig on Sunday nightThe Godfather Part 3Creativity and self-protectionModern cities

This week I talk about why individuality matters. I discuss:The synthesis between individuality and the communityIndividuality and empathyIndividuality and human rightsIndividuality and cultureFree speech, creativity and the role of the free spiritMill, Jesus and Elia Kazan

This week I talk about Jordan Peterson’s interview with Helen Lewis for GQ. I talk about:The degeneration of GQ from its 90s heydayDefinitions of the PatriarchyThe meaning of true rebellionThe importance of individualityWhy free speech matters

This week I ramble about a little midnight adventure I had in London. No great revelation or point to the story, but it was a fun little interlude!I also talk about #MeToo and sexuality:A new video: From Women To Men. It highlights that abuse runs both ways. Many would say that male abuse of women is worse, but that feeds into extremist reactionsSexuality is itself a powerful and destructive form of power. There’s no easy answer, if we want to avoid Victorian puritanism while also avoiding self-destructive compulsions. Here are the original videos I’m talking about:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwKLTVCJn6Qhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6TLvu3l0Ns&t=725s

This week I talk about: 1. The propaganda of the 'People's Vote'.2. How Brexit can only be solved by being specific, not grandstanding.3. The meaning of rock n roll

We live in an age of prosperity, but it doesn’t give us what prosperity shouldThere’s a difference between consumerist choice and meaningful choiceWe live in an era of risk aversion, which is not actually virtuous